WHAT!? Kris Bryant Gets Angry!?
It’s always the quite nice guys that secretly take out their frustrations under a cloak of secrecy. That’s exactly what Chicago Cubs Star third baseman does.
In an interview after the Cubs 4-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Bryant gave the chilling details of his violent outbursts.
“Sure, I have my tempter tantrums,” Bryant said after going 0-for-4 in Tuesday night’s 4-0 Cubs loss to the Brewers. “I go in [the clubhouse] and break a bat or whatever, but I try to do it where no one sees me, but sometimes that’s a good thing, too.
“And then after that, it’s all about perspective. We’re playing a game for a living. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. Those are the times where you learn the most about yourself and what’s important to you.
“Yeah, it stinks not to go out there and get hits, but I’m playing for one of the best franchises in all of sports and looking back at what I’ve done, I feel pretty proud. That’s always what I go back to — it’s a game and I’ve accomplished a lot so far.”
I mean, Kris makes bouts of rage sound like scheduled sessions where he apologizes for hurting his baseball bat.
Honestly, he hasn’t been hurting many bats lately either. In his first 54 games of the season Bryant was slashing .301/.406/.514 with a .920 OPS. He then went 0-16 in his next four games and sat out in Wednesday’s series finale against the Brewers. This slump has knocked 19 points off his average, 15 off his OBP, and 33 points off his slugging percentage.
But the slump goes further than that. Bryant has homered once in his last 25 games and is slugging a mere .370 over that span. To put it in some perspective, that’s Tommy La Stella’s career slugging percentage.
Part of the issue is Bryant has fallen victim to the strikeout. In a season which Bryant was striking out at a career low rate, he’s looked overmatched and left guessing far too often as of late. Striking out in 30% of his plate appearances in June, up from 17% during the rest of the season.
Perhaps Bryant just falls into the June swoon? In June of 2017 KB slashed .232/.388/.488 with his highest strikeout total (25) of any month. Coincidentally, Bryant began to slump as Anthony Rizzo caught fire in 2017, and he is doing it again as Rizzo has improved his numbers in 2018.
Either case, the Cubs need a locked in Kris Bryant in order to push through and make a long playoff run. If 2017 was any indication, Bryant should bounce back with another huge month come July.
